Scots divers who helped recover the bodies of dead crewmen from the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk will today be honoured by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Scots divers who helped recover the bodies of dead crewmen from the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk will today be honoured by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Diving superintendent Wally Wallace and colleague Alec McLeod are expected to be presented with a special award by Mr Putin at a ceremony in the Kremlin in Moscow later today.

The Russian government has been keen to express its gratitude at the part the British diving team played in successfully raising the Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea in August last year with the loss of all 118 hands.

Today Bob Gardiner, of Aberdeen-based DSND Subsea, which supplied the diving team and a vessel as part of the Dutch-led salvage operation, spoke of his pride at the award.

He said: ''The recognition by the Russian President encapsulates everything about how a sensitive job was well carried out and we are grateful that the British diving team has been recognised for this.''

Mr Gardiner confirmed today that after the ceremony with Mr Putin the divers will be taken to a civic dinner at the Kremlin.

All the Kursk's crew died after it exploded and sank 350ft below the surface last year.

The salvage operation cost the Russian government around #42 million in an operation involving teams of divers which took 85 days.